Written in partnership with Sachin Negi
We all have our favourite brands that we visit and buy from. There’s a reason for that. Entrepreneur Filip Boksa, who is the co-founder of BookingKoala, says that if you’re learning how to start a business, the goal should be to focus on establishing your business as a brand name. By doing that, you will be able to charge higher prices and sell to customers with much less effort. On top of it, you’ll have a longer lifetime value for a customer, and you’ll have many more returning customers coming back to buy from you. If you didn’t know this already, most businesses make the majority of their profit on the back end, and if you’re not establishing your company as a brand name, you’ll have trouble competing. Another important thing that you’re doing is that you’re building a valuable asset. Businesses that are well established sell faster and for a higher price.
Filip grew several companies in his twenties. He grew a house cleaning company, a subscription box, and a software company, to name a few. All his ventures were bootstrapped. He also sees how users grow businesses using BookingKoala, and the ones who have the most success are constantly focusing on establishing themselves as a brand name. If you found your business idea and looking to start, you must focus on this critical part. He also mentions that establishing yourself as a brand name starts by caring about your company. If you care, this part won’t be difficult, and if you don’t and are only in it for money, your business won’t reach its full potential.
Filip gave us an example of how important it is to care about your brand: “In 2021, my wife and I started to look for a company that would build us a brand new home in Florida. She was the one in charge and found 20+ builders. Buying such a large purchase is a significant investment, and you better believe that a lot of research went into it. We both read our fair share on each builder, from reviews to Reddit threads. The ones that had poor reviews were immediately skipped over. On top of it, I want to move my parents over and my wife’s parents over to Florida, and they will most likely build a new home as well. If the experience is positive for us, guess who would be building their new homes. Also, guess how much acquiring them as a customer would cost that builder. Yup, $0. They simply have to do the job right and care about building our new home, and they’d potentially get 2 free referrals. There’s also a great chance this won’t be my only home, and I will need them again in the future.”
On the contrary, he says if you don’t care about your brand, your reputation will worsen as time goes by. You will gain more negative reviews across the web, and the negative word will spread. Today people gossip on forums like Reddit, and if your brand starts to gain too much negative attention, each sale will become more challenging as time goes by. Don’t be that business owner who doesn’t care, and take care of your company from the day you start your business.
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